


Swing of the Heart

by Meteorstar



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Batterie - Freeform, Drug Use, M/M, alternate personalities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 01:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 15,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2006061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meteorstar/pseuds/Meteorstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zacharie is a new student at Olivie Fabrienne Forestier High, at first appearing as a small, shy boy in a strange cat mask, barely knowing enough English to get by. But within three days he had become a thorn in everyone's side, making them pay for a simple drink of water when he didn't have classes.<br/>Micheal Batler, nicknamed Batter for his skill in baseball, along with some peers of his, decide to teach him a lesson in the form of a wet swirly. While this happens, however, Batter takes a change of heart, and soon they become great friends. But is there a deeper reason for the masked boy's leeching of money?</p><p>Will change tags and rating as needed.</p><p>Also, if you have any question about the fic, please visit http://meteor-star.tumblr.com/ and I will answer any questions you have!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

Zacharie chose to don his cat mask, he wore it whenever he hoped to make at least one friend. He never did make many friends, even when he was back in France. He quickly picked anything that was out of the ordinary out of his hair, this was his first day at an American school. Mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness coursed through his body, packing his bag with a notepad and a few pencils, as well as some extra string just in case, like he always did. There was never a time when he didn't find drawing entertaining, and he never knew when the string keeping his mask secure would snap. He huffed, exiting his enclosure, and began walking to the bus.

He had repeated the directions in his head numerous times the night before, spending hours trying to remember so that he would not forget the next morning. He went over them once more as he walked, hoping that he wouldn't get lost. He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned the next corner, a cluster of other teens were waiting there as well. The most striking one was an extremely tall male with a baseball cap atop his head, a bag on one shoulder and a bat leaning against the other. He was standing alone, unlike the other students, perhaps he was a loner just like himself? He pulled up beside the much taller teen, swallowing, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Um, _bonjour..."_ He didn't seem to hear, so the masked teen tried again, _"Bonjour, monsieur."_

This time he turned towards him. "What was that?"

Zacharie had no idea what the taller male had said, he had been led to believe it was a French speaking school, due to the name and the dialect of the website he had found when borrowing Pablo's computer.

He swallowed again, anxiety crawling up him like a huge, hairy tarantula, trying his best to recall the small amount of English he knew. "Um.. H-hello..."

"Hi," the other replied, his voice lacking any emotion whatsoever.

Names, names were the first step to a friendship. "M-my name is Zacharie."

"Batter," he responded in the same monotone voice as before. It unnerved him really.

"Do you speak French?"

"A little," was the reply.

"Does anyone?"

Batter just shrugged in response. Damn, it seemed he would have to be tutored by Pablo and Valerie.

 _"Merci..._ er, th-thank you, monsieur Batter," Zacharie told him, though he had been no real help.

When the bus came, Zacharie had been dismayed that he had not been able to find a seat that he could have all to himself, it seemed that this was one of the final stops on the route. So he simply sat next to the teen he had met at the stop, unacknowledged.

"What do you think you're doing, sitting next to him?"

A voice snapped him from his daydreaming, _"Quoi?"_ he replied automatically.

"Get the fuck out of that seat, before he beats you to a bloody pulp with his bat, freak."  
Zacharie had no idea what they were saying, though he wished he did, so he could come up with some sort of retort. Instead, he sat there in silence.  
Luckily, Batter stood up for him, hissing out a reply. The girl simply scoffed and moved somewhere near the front of the bus.  
He mumbled out a quick _"Merci"_ before pulling his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees.

The silence between them remained the rest of the bus ride, the voices of the other teens were fairly quiet as it was still morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gog i'm sorry for this this is so terrible ;-; please don't hate me


	2. Follow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doing a bit of POV swapping sort of  
> hope you don't mind

When Batter entered the school, he soon found the masked boy tailing behind him. He found it strange that he did not intimidate him due to his height and his build, but then again, anyone who covers their face with a mask must have been strange. He simply ignored him, walking past the schedule table, as he had already received his.

 _"Emploi du temps?"_ a voice sounded behind him.

Batter turned, once again, he had almost forgotten he was being followed. "What?"

Zacharie fumbled with his hands for a moment, then spoke again, "Er, schedule?"

He turned and pointed at the tables with signs that said "A-M" and "N-Z" on them, referring to the student's last name.

"Ah, _merci,"_ the black haired boy nodded, turning and skipping over to the "A-M" table.

Batter was partially glad to be rid of the small boy, beginning to walk to the school lockers to put his bat away. However, it was not long before the sweater-clad male pulled up beside him, huffing slightly. _"Je suis de retour!"_ he exclaimed in a triumphant tone.

Batter just sighed, making his way over to the locker room and putting his bat in the coach's office as they had not been assigned lockers yet.  
Emerging from the room, he saw the masked boy waiting for him. "Miaou!"  
He sighed once again, making his way to the language hall. He found that he was _still_ being followed, couldn't he walk on his own?

When he made it to the language hall, he finally lost his composure. "Just what the hell is your problem?"

The masked boy just tilted his head, _"Quoi?"_

Batter hissed, "Just leave me alone, Z-er..." Fuck, what was his name? "Za-"

"Zacharie."

This time it was the blond that was confused, "Yes, Zacha-"

 _"Au revior, monsieur Batter."_ And without another word, he was gone.

Batter stood there for a moment, going over what had happened. Then he decided it was unimportant, and went to his class.

Oddly enough, his first period happened to be French. He never really payed any attention in these classes, and now he vaguely wished he had. Ironically, all he did when the teacher handed him his paper was doodle. He was never all that good at drawing, but he tended to do a bit of doodling when bored. His drawings started out as his usual ones, depictions of him killing ghosts with his bat, three glowing onion rings floating behind him. Sometimes he was even fighting a large bird, or smiling with a beautiful eyeless woman. As the hour dragged on, however, he realized he had begun drawing images of Zacharie, a few of them of him wearing masks he had never even seen before.

He sighed, crumpling up the paper and heading over to the corner for a new one.

"Was that paper not enough for you, mister Batler?" the French teacher, Mr. von Gacy, inquired.

Batter hissed under his breath, did everyone have to get on his nerves today? He simply ignored him, grabbing the piece of paper and sitting back in his seat. This time he chose to actually listen to what the teacher was saying, all he had to do was write down his name, and all numbers from zero to thirty in french, which was simple enough, it had been bored into his brain after two years of taking the same class. He was also directed to write down something he wished to learn this year. Normally he would just write something about wanting to get out of the class, but now that he knew someone who actually spoke French, who also did not know much English, he supposed he would at least try to pay attention. Maybe he could learn how to say "Fuck off" and actually get the boy to do so. He minced his thoughts, however, to avoid a trip to the principle's office or something to that effect, instead refining it to "To help communicate with certain people." Satisfied with what he had produced, he turned it in, going back to his doodling and daydreaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit i actually finished this chapter i thought the writers block would never go away  
> i'm sorry if this whole thing is terribly written


	3. Binary Shouts

Zacharie just sat there in his chair as Ms. Porter, the instructor who would be attempting to teach him how to speak English, wrote her name on the board. Turns out he was completely wrong to think that this was a French speaking school, which dug him into a deep pit, as the only other language besides French that he was even remotely fluent in was Spanish. Really there wasn't a huge difference between French and Spanish, several of the words leeched off of each other. English, though it did still use some of the words that French did, was far more complicated than either of the languages. It had rules just like any other language, but it constantly broke those rules, making it almost impossibly difficult.

  
The instructor began explaining the colours and numbers, which Zacharie already knew, and he wondered how this would help him with anything, unless shouting zeros and ones or the word "blue" could scare bullies away, which he highly doubted.

  
A loud ringing interrupted a detailed drawing of bleeding wings, Zacharie quickly closed his sketchbook, maneuvering out of the class room. He quickly popped his head into the French classroom, "Monsieur Batter?"

  
Batter looked up, grimacing and joining his masked companion, ignoring the stares that bore into his back and the snickers that rang in his ears.  
Once out of earshot, Batter dropped his voice to a low growl, "What?"

  
Zacharie pulled his schedule out, pointing at his second hour. Of course, they had the same fucking class. In fact, it seemed that almost all of their classes matched.

He sighed, leading him to the English classroom. His desk was placed between an empty one and a son of the history teacher. All of her children had the same wheezy voice and the same personality, which was bashful to no end. On the other side sat two other males with pale hair and slanted eyes who were speaking in whispers to each other. Zacharie seemed delighted to sit between him and the two twins.

 _"Bonjour, mes amis!"_ the masked boy practically shouted.

The closer male turned, "Ah, _bonjour Zacharie.Ça va?"_

_"Très bien, et toi?"_

_"C omme ci comme ça, merci."_

Batter had no idea what the two were saying, so he interjected with a simple "Um,"

The still nameless boy looked up, "Ah, hello my fellow classmate. I'm guessing you helped Zacharie reach this lieu?"

 _At least someone speaks English around here,_ the athlete thought to himself. He nodded, albeit hesitantly.

The boy's strikingly yellow eyes narrowed, an unsettling grin spreading across his face. "Then I suppose it would be most ideal to introduce my self. I am Pablo, though most call me Judge, and I would prefer you do so as well."

"Batter," he replied, it was what most called him, and he also preferred his nickname over his true name.

Judge pointed to the boy behind him, "And this is my dear brother Valerie." As he was addressed, the newly named Valerie ducked his head, his eyes darting between Batter, and back to the floor when he thought he wasn't looking. "Please try to be kind to him, I dread to think of what may happen to you if you choose otherwise." The threat, though it seemed like an idle one, there was no doubt that he would take drastic action if his brother were involved.

Studying the two males closer, he saw that their messy hair quirked up in two places, the shape almost resembling the ears of a cat. They seemed to even act catish, and their eyes resembled those of felines as well.

The bell rang, and the teacher walked in.

Now, when trying to define 'grotesque,' this teacher would likely come to mind. His face was anything but pretty, he had a small, flat nose, and abnormally large teeth that looked as if they hadn't been brushed in years. His eyes were sunken in, enough that it was almost hard to see them, and his ears were incredibly small in comparison to the rest of his misshapen bald head.

He wrote his named on the board, Mr. Dedan, then he roared it out to the classroom.

"Alright, my name is Mr. Dedan, and you would do well to address me as such! Welcome to my English class," he shouted, bits of spittle flying from his super-sized mouth. His voice was like nails on chalkboard, amplified enough to grate on anyone within a ten-meter radius' ears, and about as deep as the the salt water gallows that the squids of the deep spend their time in.

 "Now, I know that it is the first day, and you expect everyone to go easy on you. But your expectations are vastly incorrect!" he began, starting to pace at the front of the room, "I'm afraid that this is a no-nonsense class, you will work, work, work, until the end of the hour. I expect no giggling to your peers, or paper airplanes flying around the room, or any phones going off, or any other bullshit that you kids pull these days. I expect hard-working individuals every minute of this class. Now, read the first section of your textbook, and answer the questions at the end. You may get up to grab paper if need be, but I expect a notebook or binder to be present by the end of the week. I will pass out the syllabus when class ends. Now get to work!" he ranted, then retreated behind his desk, opening up his laptop. It seemed that though the class was no-nonsense, all the teacher cared to do was get on Facebook and talk to _his_ peers.

Batter, of course, refused to do the work, instead he sat back and allowed his mind to wander. However, it seemed that it wanted to wander right to the desk next to him, to his slight annoyance.

Zacharie was staring at his desk, or at least it seemed like he was, it was hard to tell with the mask. Batter wondered why, as it seemed he intended to do the work, yet he was just sitting there. Then it hit him, hard enough that he had to stop himself from literally smacking himself in the face, for being so stupid. He had forgotten that the boy did not know a lick of English, and especially with the teacher speaking so fast it must have been hard even if he did understand it. He was still for a moment, before turning to Judge and asking to translate.

The cat-like boy complied and whispered the translation back to him, or at least as much as he could before Dedan noticed and called them out for it.

"Just what do you two think you're doing?"

Judge immediately motioned for Zacharie to silence himself, looking toward the teacher. "I was simply translating what you said to my friend."

"Translating? Is he so stupid that he needs it to be whittled down to simpler words and short phrases?" Dedan demanded, eliciting a few snickers from the surrounding classmates.

"Sorry, but you are sorely mistaken, he's actually quite intelligent, however, the poor boy doesn't understand much English, so I had to translate it into French for him."

It seemed Mr. Dedan could not argue with that. "Alright, fine, but if I catch you speaking to anyone else you will be sent down to the principal."

Judge nodded, these were acceptable terms. "I understand, you will not see me speaking to anyone else in this class."

The teacher's shoulders relaxed as he returned his attention back to his computer screen. But, alas, it seemed he was not finished, and he glanced over at Zacharie once more. "And take that mask off."

Zacharie, who had been looking at, or at least towards the instructor, tilted his head slightly, not sure of what he had said, though he knew it was addressed to him by following his gaze.

Dedan, seeming to remember the boy's literary issue, looked at Judge. "Tell him to take his mask off, it's damn distracting to the other students, and I can't tell if he's screwing off or not."

Judge sighed, reluctantly translating his request, eliciting a quick shake of the head.

_"Non."_

"What did you just say?" Dedan growled, he understood that, as _'non'_ and 'no' were pronounced the same way.

_"Non, je ne."  
_

Dedan turned his glare onto Judge, his eyes telling him to translate.

Judge sighed again, he would have preferred not to get into this. "I'm afraid that he refuses. It won't be an easy task getting him to remove it, as I am one of his closest friends and even I cannot force it from him."

Dedan grumbled, "Then tear it off or risk suspension!"

Judge knew this would be a terrible idea, he refused to hurt his friend, and there must be a reason for him to wear the mask. "Then it looks like suspension is my destiny. I won't injure his pride or any of his other feelings, his secrets are his alone to keep, and if he wishes to shadow his face then so be it. I will not stop him from doing what he chooses."

Dedan growled, then gave up, "Fine. Just don't fuck around in my class." Judge translated this to Zacharie, then began translating the chapter they were meant to be reading, and afterwards translating the questions. He translated Zacharie's answers and wrote them onto the paper, and then the pair went back to silence. Batter, who had been watching the whole ordeal, had new-found respect for the cat-like boy, he knew no one who could put up with that. He also felt kind of bad for Zacharie, but then again, he couldn't understand any of it, so it was probably fine. Or maybe that made it worse. He didn't really know, all he could think was _Damn._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i tried to keep the third person pov follow zacharie the whole time. i really tried


	4. Plague

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _It begins._

Zacharie hated, no, loathed, absolutely _despised_ his situation. When kids made fun of him, it was bad, when teachers did it, it was a thousand times worse. And to make matters even more despicable, he couldn't even understand what they were saying, though he could guess as to what it was, he'd been going through similar predicaments back in France since he was twelve. And he'd been pretty sure he heard the words "idiot" or "freak" pass their lips a few times, behind the snickers that resonated throughout the room, at least that much he'd understood. He wouldn't be as bothered if he could come up with one of his witty comebacks he was so good at, but that wouldn't work here, he'd just get a bunch of stares boring through his mask, they wouldn't have understood a word he'd said.

Their laughter still burned in his ears, even as the bell rang, dismissing them all. He was grateful for this, of course, anything to be rid of the assholes seated so close to him that he could feel their breath hot on his neck, and made him want to vomit with the sickening words and claustrophobia.

He sighed, poking Pablo for directions to his next class, which was History with Ms. Elsen. Unfortunately, it seemed that he did not share this class with Batter or Judge, but Valerie would be there, so it wasn't all bad. He followed the bashful boy to the class, seating himself next to him. He paid little to no attention to Ms. Elsen's lecture, there would have been no point anyway, he wouldn't have understood a word she had said. He simply doodled as she spoke, paper angels and string puppets dancing in his mind.

It wasn't long before lunch rolled around, but he skipped out on that, there was no way he was going to remove his mask in front of other people, though the growl in his stomach was quite bothersome. Instead, he talked to Principal Ghost, setting up the plans for his shop. When they had finished, Zacharie caught a glimpse of none other than the Batter himself, in all his glory. He grinned a bit beneath his mask, heading down the stairs and to the baseball field, watching him practice his magnificent swing, so perfect that he could just imagine a game taking place, him hitting the ball into the air, getting a full home run. He could imagine cheering him on as his feet landed on home plate, walking over and congratulating him, hugging him, lifting up his mask and-

Zacharie's face turned so red that it burned beneath his mask, _and nothing. Absolutely nothing._

He sighed, picking his bag, and heading back to the school before he could be noticed by the one who plagued his mind, or by anyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I'm gonna specify their schedules to help everyone out including me. So here we go.
> 
> Zacharie's schedule:  
> 1 English Second-Language  
> 2 English/Literature (English 11)  
> 3 History  
> 4 Trigonometry  
> 5 Chemistry  
> 6 Art  
> \---  
> Batta's schedule:  
> 1 French  
> 2 English/Literature (English 11)  
> 3 Gym  
> 4 Algebra II  
> 5 Chemistry  
> 6 History  
> \---  
> Judge's schedule:  
> 1 Theater  
> 2 English/Literature (English 11)  
> 3 Computers and Information  
> 4 Calculus  
> 5 History  
> 6 AP Biology  
> \---  
> Valerie's schedule:  
> 1 Theater  
> 2 English/Literature (English 11)  
> 3 History  
> 4 Algebra II  
> 5 Band  
> 6 AP Biology
> 
> (As a note, I've realized that English 11 doesn't actually exist (it does but it's an AP class), but for the sake of the plot I'm not going to correct this issue.)


	5. Chronological Fractals

Batter began heading home, twirling his bat idly in his hands. Home was not a favorable place, with his pathetic family situation, but staying in his room and roaming around on the internet usually sated his need for actual socialization. Today, however, he was particularly parched. He swung open the door and closed it behind him. As expected, his mother was sitting on the couch covered in vodka and champagne watching the television, whilst his father was still no where to be seen. He snuck upstairs with no issue and booted up his computer, turning on Skype. A grin dancing across his lips as the notification telling him that his previous partner was online. He didn't hesitate to call her up on video, smiling when she answered.

"Hey Vader! Long time no see! How are you doing?" he asked excitedly, his crooked smile ever present on his face.

Vader smiled back, with her perfect teeth and her ever so gently cascading curls, her olive skin, her everything. "Hey Micheal! Sorry for not contacting you sooner, it's been really busy around here! How are you?"

"It's been great! Well, it's been a little lonely but other than that everything's fine. So, uh, are you planning on visiting anytime soon?"

"Well, nothing's set in stone yet, but we may be moving back by next summer!"

Batter's face lit up like a firework, "Really? I can't wait to see you again."

"Yep! Though I will admit, I'll miss living here. The view is beautiful." She tilted her screen so that he could see the golden skyscraper lighting up the night sky.

"Is that the Eiffel Tower?" he gasped, staring at it in awe.

"Yep! I've slept with that over my head for what, two years now? It's really pretty."

He nodded in response. It wasn't dark where he was currently but he was aware that she was six hours ahead, so the visage of the night didn't surprise him that much.

"Oh, sorry, but I have to go. Dad wants me in bed by 10. I guess it's only four where you are. Well, we can try to talk again on the week end, right?" Vader smiled apologetically.

He nodded, "See you on Friday!"

And with that Vader Eloha closed her laptop and gazed upon the spoils she and her lover had reaped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate formatting


	6. Trois Jours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hooray we finally get to see zacharie being an asshat

Three days.

_Three days._

It was three days ago, that the strange masked boy arrived at the school, in his odd, fractured language.

Three days ago, that he had clung to the illustrious Batter, the exquisitely skilled baseball player.

And three days past, that his face burned with the colour of a thousand stars, being born and dying, becoming black holes and supernovas, with the mere thought of none other than the Batter himself.

And today the school was graced, was _blessed_ with the visage of a black haired boy in a white sweater and a toad mask, who strolled right over to the aforementioned baseball player.

"Ahaha, why hello, monsieur Batter. It's been days since we last spoke, hasn't it?" Zacharie interjected into the incredibly important conversation between a fork and his knee.

"The fuck do you want, and what is up with the new mask?" Batter inquired, annoyed, enough that he didn't even recognize the abnormality of his speech.

"Well, I'm a merchant now. I couldn't exactly continue being un chat, now could I?" the toad mask bobbed as he chuckled.

"A merchant?" God, what the fuck did he think this was?

"Yes, and I believe that cup of water you just got from the drinking fountain is about twenty cents."

"What, like I'm actually going to pay for that."

And with lightening quick reflexes Zacharie snatched up the bat that was leaning against the desk.

"I don't take stealing lightly."

The tension in the room was rising quickly, then just as soon it plummeted from the top of Mount Everest as the newly-named merchant put the bat back down, "Of course, I'm not going to injure one of my favorite customers, but my revenge will be enacted soon enough. Bad things happen to thieves."

And with that, the merchant retreated to his desk, which, oh wait, was right next to Batter's. It was not a moment too soon that Dedan began his agonizing lecture, and Judge began translating little snippets. Unbeknownst to him, Zacharie was silently rejoicing that he hadn't forgotten the line and that he had managed to keep his cool.

The rest of the hour went painfully slow. Batter figured that his day would get better once he reached his PE class. It was his favorite class, as he was an athlete, staying in shape was important. However, he was greeted by non other than the masked terror himself, sitting in the bleachers. His hidden eyes were burning into his back, he knew he was watching every move, every stride, every swing of the arms he made.

If Batter had noticed him, then he wasn't showing it. His gym teacher, who also happened to be the coach of the team, was Coach Enoch, who somehow manages to clear the field in a matter of seconds despite the immense amount of weight his body carried. Since they had this correlation, when the class didn't have something else to be doing he was permitted to practice both his swing and his pitch. Oliver, who was nicknamed Ollie, was this short ginger freshman who often helped Batter practice by pitching, in fact he seemed to completely idolize him. Today, Batter seemed a little less focused as he narrowly missed hitting the boy square in the face more than once, and he even smashed one of the balls by accident. He eventually retreated to the bleachers, grabbing a cup of water to drench himself with.

"Excuse me, but you do have to pay for that."

The masked merchant's grating voice broke his short-lived sense of security as he crushed the cup. "How much do you want."

"Hm, twenty-five cents about."

Batter thrust the money at him angrily and stalked off, leaving heated footsteps in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gasp i actually updated :v


	7. La vie N'est pas le Soleil et Roses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a warning, there will be a lot of French within this chapter. The French is not exact, as I haven't gotten far enough in my classes to know the translations for everything needed here. What the words were supposed to mean will be placed within the fic, aside from the few snippets that can be easily interpreted.

Zacharie was practically a grinning ball of sunshine and roses after his first successful transaction. During lunch he quickly went to the library to speak to Pablo about more lessons in English, knowing full well that the class he was in wouldn't get him anywhere near where he needed to be in his knowledge of the language even by the end of the semester. 

"Pablo! Pablo, _mon ami, denivez quoi?"_   Zacharie waved to his friend as he entered the library.

_'Pablo! Pablo, guess what?'_

_"Le nom est le juge, mon cher compagnon. Maintenant, qu'est-ce que cette chose vous aurait-moi deviner?"_ Pablo spoke. _  
_

_'The name is Judge, my dear companion. Now, what is this thing you would have me guess?'_

_"Droit, bien sûr. Je viens de terminer ma première transaction régulière! Et je n'ai même pas bégayer une fois!"_ Zacharie replied as he pulled out a seat across from his friend, his excitement billowing off of him.

_' Right, of course. I completed my first proper transaction! And I didn't even stutter!'_

Judge raised an eyebrow, _"Oh? Qui avec, si je peux poser une question?"_

_'Oh? Who with, if I may ask?'_

_"Le Batteur,"_ he answered, swearing that he could hear the Judge's smirk if he couldn't see it.

The Judge's ever present grin widened, _"Et comment avez-vous acquérir son coin? Pour autant que je suis conscient que vous n'avez pas troisième période avec lui, mais avec mon cher frère Valerie."_

_' And how did you acquire his coin? As far as I'm aware you don't have third period with him, but with my dear brother Valerie.'_

The merchant sighed slightly, _"J'ai peut-être ignoré de l'histoire de le rencontrer... Il n'est pas comme si je pouvais comprendre l'exposé de toute façon."_  

_'I may have skipped history to meet him... It's not like I could understand the lecture anyway.'_

The smirk on the Judge's face grew wider, as he was about to speak, but he was cut off by the arrival of his brother.

"Ah, Valerie, _bienvenue._ "

 "Oh,  _bonjour Zacharie et mon frère,"_ Valerie responded sheepishly.

_'Oh, hello Zacharie and my brother.'_

_"J'ai acquis un peu de bonnes nouvelles. Notre Zacharie a terminé son premier succès de l'opération,"_ Judge informed his brother of the recent tidings.

_'I have acquired a bit of good news. Our Zacharie has completed his first successful transaction.'_

Valerie grinned,  _"Wow, bon travail, Zacharie!"_

The merchant gave a slight chuckle,  _"Merci."_

Valerie spoke again,  _"Alors, devrions-nous vous donner une autre session de tutorat?"_

_'So, should we give you another tutoring session?'_

Zacharie smiled beneath his mask, "Yes, please!"

A bit of laughter resonated throughout the library before the trio got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The small snippets of French scattered about will be translated here, as some of them the context gives clues to what the character is saying.  
> bienvenue - welcome  
> bon travail - good job  
> merci - thank you


	8. As I Rise From The Ashes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a warning, though nothing explicit actually happens, some of the language in this chapter gets to be pretty bad, so just watch out for that.

Batter was more than a little pissed, he had a pop quiz in History that he wasn't at all prepared for, due to the nonexistent notice, and he knew full well that he did poorly on it. He was hoping to have a drink of water and a bathroom break before heading to practice, but a certain ass clad in masks and sweaters seemed to have other plans. 

"How many times must I tell you that you must pay for that, mon ami? Nothing is ever free in this world," he gave a slight chuckle, "Come on now, pay up."

Batter hissed and shoved the merchant away, abandoning the drinking fountain and heading off to the men's room, seething with anger. Upon arrival he slammed his fist into the side of a stall, groaning angrily. He slid down to the floor, trying to calm himself down. He glanced over at the graffiti on the side of the stall. Someone had actually had the time to do a legitimate work of art on the metal stall, though he wasn't really paying attention to that. His attention instead drifted to the words scrawled beneath it.

'Zacharie is a disgusting piece of shit who doesnt no the difference between write and right'

Batter smirked, "You've got that right." Going to read the responses.

'He's a freak and a slut, I mean have you ever seen him eating? I bet he uses lunch hour guzzling cocks for money.'

'probs. and what the hell is even under those creepy masks of his, dafuq does he have to hide'

'i heard his daddy roughed him up real good, all scarred up and shit. some dark knight shit up in this bitch'

'I heard that he wanted to kill himself so bad that he covered his face in these ugly ass cuts trying to lose enough blood to die. I hope the freak succeeds next time. If we're lucky the dumbass will down a bucket of antifreeze and a packet of nails along with it.'

'wow, you mean he's too dumb to even kill himself properly? here's hoping that when he dies we can rob his corpse and get all our money back'

Batter grinned, "We can only hope that masked freak leaves and never returns."

A voice sounded from behind him, "Oh? And who exactly is 'we'?"

Batter turned, expecting the masked terror himself, but instead it was just Valerie. "Oh, er, hey Valerie.."

Valerie's face adopted an irritated expression, as he quirked up an eyebrow, "Valerie? I'm afraid not, Valerie is the name of that vermin. No, I am Japhet."

Batter's face twisted in confusion, "I'm pretty sure that for the past two weeks your name has been Valerie. What's you're deal right now?"  
Valerie looked angry now, "I said my name is Japhet. You'd do well to call me as such."

Batter simply shrugged, "Alright then, Japhet, what do you want? Why are you here?"

Valerie, or rather Japhet, grew a smirk, "This is a bathroom isn't it?" And without another word, Japhet entered one of the stalls.

Realizing what he himself had come here to do, he did the same. 

Once both had left the stalls, Japhet spoke up again, "Though, I do share your loathing for the merchant. My counterpart and his brother may see him as a close friend, perhaps even a sibling, I on the other hand despise him." 

"Oh trust me you're not the only one, it seems half of the people who use this bathroom hate him," Batter responded.

"Not only does he rob us of our coin, he has the audacity to shove it in our face too! He gets tutored by his friends everyday, in _my_ library!" Japhet complained.

"So he steals your space too? He even skips History to watch me in gym class! Seriously, he's a creep and and freak!" Batter agreed, knowing full well that the merchant had stalked him and apparently other students as well.

"You know what? We'll give him a little warning and if he continues to be a nuisance, we'll strike back." A mischevious grin had spread over Japhet's face, "Thoughts?"

Batter shared his grin, "Sounds like a plan. He has until the next big game, in the next few months, to get his shit together."

"Till the next game then!" 

And the pair walked out, one to the great library, and one to the baseball field, practicing their schemes in their heads.


	9. Reindeer and Masks

It was noon, Tuesday, September 23rd, when the warning came.  
Zacharie had been reorganizing the school store, which Mr. Ghost had given him full reign of after hearing his reasoning. As he began to sweep the floors, he found a note on the ground.  
"You have until the event of the next big game to clean up your act. Your thievery of money for something as simple as a drink is inhumane. If you do not comply within the time allotted, you will be faced with severe punishment. If you do not show up, every single one of the students here will know your secrets."

Normally, little notes like this wouldn't have bothered him. But, this one, this one was different. It was written in his native tongue, meaning whoever wrote this must either know him personally or have actually taken the time to find this information out. He sat down, his mind contemplating who exactly they could be,  _'Pablo? Valerie? Sucre? Or...'_  He wouldn't allow himself to formulate the final answer, he'd spent far too long running from that man to allow him to plague his thoughts with his tainted words and hellish mannerisms again. Instead, he forced himself to ignore it, continuing to clean the shop. 

He jolted when some students had knocked on the store's counter, turning quickly to greet them.

"Ah, buenos dias, dear friends. What can I do you for?"

Ollie and a few of his friends were chatting next to the store. A red-headed girl named Reina, who had a firey temper, a flirty demeanor, and a scantily clad musclular body was at the counter. She, along with Ollie, Batter, Vinny, Gilles, Tiburce, Magnolia, Charlie, and a few others were all on the baseball team. As always, at her side was a large teen named Daniel. He didn't talk much, or he did but it wasn't very easy to understand what he said. He was in quite a few Special Education classes, and had trouble with most subjects. Reina was always by his side when she could be, however, so he ended up getting through a lot of loops because of her.

"Hey, how much for five packs of fruit snacks? Me and my friends are wanting a lot," she asked, ruffling Daniel's pale hair. 

"That would be $2.50, mon amie," Zacharie answered, waving at the pair.

Reina leafed out the money from her wallet, and placed it on the counter, taking the snacks once they were held out. "By the way, Micheal's been talking about you an awful lot lately," she said, as she had been wanting to address this for a while.

Zacharie leaned over the counter, his interest piqued, "Oh has he now? Tell me, what has our dear Batter been saying about everyone's favorite merchant, hm?"

Reina snorted a little, "Sadly, nothing good. The whole school has pretty much been buzzing about you, but no one has really had anything good to say to you.I wouldn't take head of any of it if I were you, the school's full of assholes."

Zacharie wasn't too surprised, most people at his old school had done the same. "It's probably better if I don't ask, but if I may, what have they been saying about me?"

Reina sighed, "Most of it is just the classic shitty insults on the same par as a five year old. There's a lot of people saying far worse though. I've even heard teachers talking shit. A few kids just want you to down a bottle of bleach so they can rob your corpse," she said, her face twisting in disgust, "some have even made threats. Again, I doubt any of the fuckers are for real, but you should probably watch your back anyway. People ain't never gonna accept you if you ain't what they perceive as 'the norm.' 'S what Rudolph taught kids, and it's so real it hurts."

Zacharie listened intently to what she was saying. He knew that other students would not take all too kindly to him, but he had no idea of the severity of their hatred. The fact that people were already saying that he should kill himself, already threatening to do it themselves, bothered him immensely. Before he had a chance to reply, however, Reina spoke again.

"I wouldn't be too worried about Batter though, I think he'll come around eventually. He talks about you so much, there might even be something hidden in there," she smirked, winking.

Zacharie blushed a little under his toad mask, "Well, here's hoping, I'd hate for my favorite customer to dislike my company."

Reina laughed, before speaking again. "If you want I could talk to him for you. We usually end up hanging out before and after practice anyway, so it's not like it would bother me any."

Zacharie chuckled, "Er, no, no I don't think that will be necessary, mon amie. I'm sure I can loosen his lips on my own."

Reina grinned, quirking up her eyebrows, "Oh really? I'm sure you can _loosen his lips,_ Zacharie." 

The merchant laughed nervously, "Not like that! You know exactly what I meant, Reina."

She waved him off, "Whatever you say, Zach. Anyway, I should probably be heading off to practice. You can come, if you'd like."

Zacharie nodded, "Of course. And I take it you'll be coming back to the shop sometime soon?"

Reina smiled, "Wouldn't miss it."

The group walked out to the playing feild, Reina and Ollie heading into the locker rooms, Daniel, Zacharie, and the rest of the group going to the bleachers. The players walked out one by one, Batter heading up to bat with his half of the team behind him, the other half taking the other side. As the coach blew on the wistle, Zacharie was watching the Batter the whole step of the way.


	10. Greed or Need?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering who Reina is, she's simply an oc. I can't exactly write an entire highschool with only the characters from off, so some ocs have to be used.

The final home run was delivered and once again, Batter's half of the team won again. Reina wiped the sweat from her brow and waved at Daniel and Zacharie before following the rest of the team into the locker rooms. She sighed, pulling a bottle of water from her pack, gulping half of it down. After the team all changed back into their everyday clothes, they all sat down and recuperated on a set of benches outside the locker rooms. Upon seeing Batter sitting on one of the benches, she strode over to him, taking a seat next to his. 

"Hey."

Micheal turned towards her, "Oh, hey Reina."

She huffed, "Good practice huh? Not that I expected anything different with you on my half."

Batter nodded, not answering.

"Okay, I'm just gonna get to the point here. I talked to Zacharie earli-"

Batter scoffed, cutting Reina off, "What did he say this time?! Let me guess, he tried swindling money out of you too?

Reina sighed, "No, no, nothing of the sort. I wanted to ask you what your problem with him is. I get that he tries to make you pay for a bunch of stuff, but he's gotten the a-okay from the principal, and it's not like he does it to just you. Everything he does is fully within what he's allowed, and heck, his prices aren't even half bad."

Batter hissed, "He follows me around everywhere, he insists on sitting next to me in the classes we share, and the ones we don't he finds a way to weasel into anyway! He's an embarrassment and a nuisance!"

"Okay, maybe he is a bit clingy, but have you ever considered that he's not doing it to piss you off? Okay, maybe he is, but still, have you considered the possibility that he doesn't hate you, or dare I say it, considered that maybe, just maybe, that he  _likes_ you?" Reina replied, a little irritated.

"If he does he sure has a fucked up way of showing it. Why couldn't he stay in France rather than pissing off everyone here?" Batter retorted.

"Look, think about this. He wouldn't be doing this shit without reason. Most people who have had his job aren't this obsessed with running the school store and making money fast. I'm willing to bet there's a really good reason for it," Reina responded.

"Bullshit. He's just a greedy bastard hellbent on ruining our lives."

"Oh, quit your whining. Maybe you should, oh I don't know, talk to him? If you really want him to stop, how 'bout striking up a conversation. He ain't gonna change if you carry on like this."

"I don't think I could stand to speak with that asshole for more than ten minutes."

"Well, ten minutes might just be all that you need. Stop being stubborn and just fucking say something already.  Believe me, he's not as big of a dick as you think."

Batter growled under his breath, grabbing his bat and getting ready to leave, "We'll see about that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this is short, I'm gonna be adding a lot of chapters but they might not all be very long.


	11. Threats of Destruction

After practice ended, Zacharie said goodbye to Reina and Daniel, and headed off to the bus. The sports team had a later bus that took the same routes as the other ones, and the times he stayed to watch practice he got on that bus. He wasn't all that surprised to see Batter standing by the big yellow vehicle, what surprised him is that he wasn't moving. In fact, he seemed to be waiting for him. When he was close enough, he hissed out, "We need to talk. After the bus ride."

"Oh please, mon ami, anything that needs to be said can be said during the ride, correct?" the merchant replied.

"No, after."

"Alright, whatever you say, amigo."

The ride, as usual, was fairly uneventful. There was the usual congrats from members of the team, as well as the jabs and jibes directed towards Zacharie. Remembering Reina's warning, he realized that he probably should have been worried about what Batter was planning to say, or do, but in all honesty he just... wasn't. He didn't really think that Batter would do anything to hurt him, verbally or physically.

Micheal, on the other hand, was also contemplating what Reina had told him. What reason could the merchant possibly have other than just greed? Maybe he needed it to support his family, but then again he'd never heard any mention of Zacharie even having one. As far as he knew, he lived with Pablo and Valerie, and they were very well-off. And if that were the case, he wouldn't need the money to begin with. So what the hell was his deal?  _No,_ he decided,  _he's simply being greedy._

Once the bus got to Zacharie and Batter's stop, they got off. Once the bus left, Zacharie spoke up.

"So, what was it that you wanted to say, mon ami?"

Batter hissed, "I'm not your damn friend, first of all. No one is."

Zacharie chuckled, "Au contraire, amigo, I have plenty of friends."  _Bullshit,_ he thought to himself,  _all you have is Pablo, Valerie, and Sucre. Maybe even Reina, but that's it._

"Second of all, why the hell do you keep stalking me, you little creep. I'm not interested in whatever it is that you want, so quit it," Batter snarled, getting more irritated by the second.

"Stalking you? What ever do you mean? I'm doing nothing of the sort," Zacharie replied, faking shock.

"Bullshit. You know you're doing exactly that. How about you stay off my ass for a while, huh? And lastly, why the hell do you keep forcing us to pay for stupid shit like water?! It falls from the fucking sky for Christ's sake! You don't need the damn money, so why the fuck do you keep forcing up to pay you?!" Batter shouted.

Zacharie could have told him the truth. He could have told him everything. In fact, he wanted to. He wanted to explain why he came to the US, he wanted to explain why he followed him in particular, he wanted to explain why he kept forcing people to pay for bullshit things. But instead, he simply said, "I suppose you're right. I've no reason to do it. I simply enjoy the feeling of burying myself in spare cash. Happy?" 

Batter growled, lifting the merchant up by his turtle neck. Zacharie kicked his legs, struggling against his grip. He was actually scared, he feared that he would hurt him, that he would take off his mask, that he would beat him up, or possibly even worse.

"I swear, I will  _destroy_ you next time I get the chance. Consider yourself lucky, freak," Batter hissed, before throwing him to the ground and walking home. 

Zacharie didn't move, he was still held in place by fear and shock. He watched as Micheal left, and he wasn't able to stand again until he had turned a corner and disappeared. The merchant sighed, forcing himself up and heading home.


	12. The Calm Before The Storm

The third week of October was nearing its completion, and with it the big baseball game of that season was drawing ever closer. In fact, the game was tomorrow. Zacharie had spent the past two nights at Pablo and Valerie's house studying, there was a Chemistry test coming up that he needed to be sure he was prepared for. Mr. Seneca, the teacher, didn't care at all about Halloween or the game despite how much the school was preparing for these events. It was the O.F.F. Lions against the S.O.T.H. Sloths (the rival school being Samuel Oslow Thomas Hill High) and it was going to be one of the biggest games of the year, according to the announcements, although they said that for every game. Zacharie had completely forgotten about the little note he found in his shop, and he only headed Batter's warning for about two weeks. Afterwards, he disregarded it entirely.

Students still whispered about Zacharie as he passed, some didn't even whisper it and said it out loud. More than a few times, he narrowly avoided being beaten up, and students now told him to kill himself to his face. He wouldn't let it bother him though, he hadn't even considered following through with their instructions for a whole month, which was an accomplishment in his book.

The whole school had busied itself with preparations, both for the game and the upcoming holiday. They always held a Halloween party in the gym, and everyone was buzzing about both the game and the party. 

"Are you staring off into space again, perhaps?" Pablo purred in amusement, interrupting Zacharie's thoughts.

"Ah, apologies amigo. I was just thinking. Shall we get back to studying?" Zacharie replied.

Valerie came back into the room, "Uh, the cookies I made are done, if you want any."

Pablo and Zacharie nodded, overjoyed at the opportunity to enjoy Valerie's cooking. The trio spent the rest of the evening studying, then they went to bed once it was late enough.

* * *

 "Hey, Zacharie, wake up."

Zacharie forced himself up, seeing Pablo shaking him awake. "Oh, er, morning."

Pablo shook his head, his ever present grin adorning his face, "How do you ever get up by yourself in the morning? Come on, let's get some breakfast."

Zacharie, Pablo, and Valerie went downstairs and into the kitchen. Pablo pulled out a box of cereal from the pantry and some bowls.

"You know, for how well off you guys are, it's still pretty surprising that you just eat cereal for breakfast," Zacharie joked.

"Just because we're rich doesn't mean we have the time for an extravagant five course meal every time we're hungry," Pablo retorted.

"Th-that said, we should probably... uh.. eat quickly. Mom's taking us in again and we woke up a bit late..." Valerie spoke up.

The other two nodded, and finished eating quickly. They all climbed into the car and headed off to school.

Many students were standing at the entrance, as school hadn't started yet and they had gotten there fairly early. The conversation fell silent as the trio walked in, then changed into the usual whispers that plagued Zach's walks through the halls. They didn't bother him any, but Pablo was none too happy. He adopted his Cheshire-like grin, the smile that threw a thousand threats in everyone's direction- without saying a word- to ward off anyone from even considering to bother any of his friends. Zacharie smirked beneath his toad mask, for he knew no one would dare to think of touching him when Pablo was around. The trio walked to the back half of the school, where all of the electives were taught.

"So, Zacharie, are you planning on going to the game?" Pablo asked once they were away from prying eyes and ears.

"Well, I don't really have anything better to do," Zacharie replied, nonchalantly. While this was true, he did have ulterior motives as to why he was going, but he wouldn't show it.

"Oh really? Is that the only reason you're going, my dear friend?" Pablo taunted, his grin growing wider.

"Yes, Pablo, it is. You and Val could come along too, if you want."

Pablo thought for a moment. "I don't see why not. We'd have to leave a bit early though, if you wouldn't mind. Valerie, how about you?"

Val was silent for a few minutes. He seemed to be distant, lost in thought. "Oh, er, yeah, sure." He didn't sound at all enthusiastic.

Pablo looked a bit worried, "Is something the matter, dear brother?"

Zacharie shared his worry, "You don't have to go."

Valerie smiled nervously, "No, I'm fine. I just remembered I said I'd meet up with a friend during the game, that's all. I can still come for a little while."

Zacharie nodded, "You two should get to Theater soon, I'll head off to my class."

The trio waved goodbye, and split apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, my update schedule is kinda wonky I know but I'm planning to pump in a lot of updates this week. I think it should be just one more chapter before a Really Big Plot Event and then there'll probably be a lot of down time after that as I plan out future chapters. Hopefully I get everything sorted quickly so you don't have to wait another year ^^;


	13. Preparations

Japhet sighed, wandering onto the playing field.  _Finally, I can be away from them_. It was during the lunch hour, and he could probably make up some excuse as to why he wasn't at the lunch table. Not that he cared. 

The  _pitter pat_ of feet on the grass diverted his attention. Micheal was walking towards him.  _So he hasn't forgotten our little agreement,_ he thought to himself.

"Ah, welcome, welcome. I assume you didn't just come here to practice, Batter?"

"No, although I wouldn't have a problem with it. So, what's the plan?" Batter asked.

"As much as I'd love to see that bastard's miserable face with my own eyes, me being in the room isn't ideal. So the plan is, once the game is over, the perfect opportunity for you is to grab one of the towels that shitstain makes you pay for. Of course, he'll be right behind you to force you to pay, giving you the chance to drag him into the locker room."

"And how would I do that?"

"Oh, I don't know. You could tell him that your money is in your locker, or something of the sort. Just think of something. Anyway, I'm sure you're not unaccustomed to the concept of 'swirlies.' You know, forcing someone's face into the toilet and then flushing it. What I want you to do, is take your phone camera, and record every second of this. Remove the fucker's mask, make sure you get his face in the shot, and then give him the worst swirly possible."

"That's... oddly specific. What should I do after that?"

"Send it to me. I can give you my contact information, Valerie never uses his phone anyway, except to talk to his brother. Then, after all that is done, we can use it to blackmail him. Oh, and if you like, your little buddies can watch."

"Alright. After that, I suppose he wouldn't bother me again, so I'm settled, but what do you get out of this?"

"Nothing really. Watching him squirm is enough. And I'd also like to see his face for once."

"Hmm... Sounds reasonable. I accept your terms."

Japhet grinned, "That's the spirit! Here's my info." He walked closer and pulled out his phone, Batter doing the same. They exchanged information, then Japhet walked off, Batter staying to practice. He sighed,  _I still can't believe that's Valerie._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is rlly short


	14. October 24th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Big Event™

Friday, October 24th. The day of the big game. And the day of the Chemistry test. The test was just mixing chemicals in a certain way until you got a certain result, but more than a few students set something other than the chemicals themselves on fire. Zacharie had a bit of trouble with the instructions, due do English not being his first language, but luckily Reina shared the class with him and secretly helped him out. After Chemistry ended, he was confident that he would get full marks on the test. The Art teacher knew that most of the students' minds would be elsewhere that day, so he let the class "doodle without direction," which roughly translates to "scroll through tumblr or catch Pokémon for all I care." Despite it being his favorite class, Zacharie was a bit glad that it was over. He'd never admit it, and he'd certainly never admit the reason why, but he was quite excited for the game.

Just as he was starting to exit the building, he ran into Pablo. He looked frantic, something was troubling him deeply. His bright eyes were darting back and forth, he seemed to be looking for something, or someone.

"What's wrong, Pablo? What's the matter?" Zacharie asked, his voice tinted with concern.

"Oh, Zacharie, you startled me," Pablo began, sighing a little. "Have you seen Valerie? He's been acting strangely today, and he just disappeared after Biology ended."

"No, I haven't. Not since History class anyway," Zacharie replied, sharing his worry. "I wouldn't be too worried, everyone knows that to mess with him means they have to deal with you too. He said that he'd meet us at the game, maybe he's already there."

Pablo sighed, "Maybe you're right. We don't have anything to lose by looking there, so we might as well."

When the pair arrived on the playing field, they saw Valerie waving to them from the bleachers. The pair quickly made their way up to him after paying for the game tickets.

 "Heyo! I saved you seats!" Valerie said cheerfully.

"So this is where you were? Why did you just disappear?" Pablo questioned, still displaying his concern for his twin.

Valerie didn't answer, a look of shame crossing his face. 

"Hey, hey, there's no need to get upset. We were just worried," Zacharie intervened.

"Yeah, sorry for upsetting you, dear brother. I guess I can get a bit over zealous in times like this. Oh, when are you going to meet up with that person you mentioned?" Pablo asked.

"Oh, I met up with them during lunch, so it's okay," Valerie replied, "we can just watch without interruptions, at least until we need to leave."

"You never mentioned, but why exactly do you need to leave early? Not that I have a problem, of course, but I'm just curious." Zacharie inquired.

"Oh, just a family thing. We're going out to dinner. Our parents aren't home much but the times that they are we usually go out to dinner together. It's kind of what we do to make up for lost time," Pablo answered.

More and more students filed into the bleachers. One of the security guards pulled out a megaphone, saying "The game will be starting in thirty minutes!"

"So, I guess we have thirty minutes just to chat, then? I brought some snacks from the shop if you guys get hungry," Zacharie said, pulling some fruit snacks out of his backpack.

Zacharie and the twins spent the remaining time conversing about whatever came to mind. By the time the downtime had ended, rows and rows of teenagers and their families had filled the stadium to the brim.

The teams came out from the locker rooms, along with Coach Enoch and the coach for the opposing teams. Cheerleaders and the team mascots lined up on the side of the field. The referee and the spokesman started shouting through the loudspeakers. The S.O.T.H. mascot, a sloth, started waving at the audience, while the O.F.F. mascot, a white lion, was flexing and "roaring." The cheerleaders got ready to do their routine. The coaches met with their teams one last time.

Zacharie barely noticed any of this. His attention the entire span of the two hour game was on Micheal Batler. The way he swung his bat, the way he flung the ball into the air, the way he ran, it was all so enticing. Every time he stepped up to the plate, the ball went flying. Zacharie remembered watching scenes like this in movies, and often times it ended up with the crush catching the ball. This didn't happen, of course, but a small part of him wished it would. He watched as their team won over and over again, the opposing team only winning two of the seven innings. About half-way through, Pablo and Valerie said their goodbyes before leaving the stadium. Zacharie watched the game with bated breath, glued to the edge of his seat, silently cheering the illustrious Batter on. He watched as the final home run happened, Batter making it to the home plate with excellent speed. Finally, after two long hours of a boring yet somehow still entertaining sport and one-sided sexual tension, the game was over.

 As Batter walked up to the towel rack to prevent more sweaty grossness, Zacharie became un-glued to his seat and saw the opportunity he needed to speak to him without being obvious. He was definitely over excited, but as long as he could hide it he'd be okay with it.

Before Zacharie even was able to say a word, Batter interrupted him. "Let me guess, another two dollars for the towel?"

Zacharie just nodded, holding his hand out to accept the cash. A strong part of him just wanted to grab the Batter's hand right then and there, but he forced the urge down into the dark recesses of his mind. 

Batter dug through his pockets, but to no avail. "Ah shit, I must've left my cash in the locker room. C'mon, you can just follow me in if you want," he said, gesturing for him to follow him. Zacharie couldn't believe what he was hearing, all the sensors in his brain were going haywire, screaming red alert and mayday. He was more than glad that his mask was hiding his face, his face was already lit up like a bonfire beneath it. He tried to come up with a valid response, but failed, and sufficed for another nod of the head, following the man who brought the starlight during the dark of night, at least to him. 

The locker room was nothing short of shitty. The lockers were tiny, the walls were a sickly cream colour, the tile floors were grimy, and all but two of the bathroom stalls were broken in some way. But given the situation, Zacharie felt like he was in a beautiful, serene garden, rather than a shitty locker room. The walls were lush green hedges rather than creamy walls, soft green grass was beneath their feet rather than crumby tiles, instead of rows and rows of lockers the walls were lined with rose bushes, beautiful gazebos stood in the place of the broken stalls, and birds sang over the crappy radiator.

As Batter lead him to his locker, Zach realized that this was the perfect opportunity to tell him everything. To tell him how he felt about him, to tell him exactly why he always followed him, why his eyes stayed trained on him rather than anyone else. But how was he going to do that? He should have planned this, come up with a well-worded, ten page essay, written a poem, something. But no, he had nothing planned, all he had on his side was opportunity.

 _This is your one chance, Zacharie,_ he warned himself,  _speak now or you may never get this chance again._

"So, uh... Batter... I have... s-something I want to say..." he began, his voice shaking.

"I'm listening," Batter replied absentmindedly.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, you're blowing it!_ "S-so, um, I've been thinking... f-for a long, long time... and I... er.." 

"Over here," Batter interrupted, gesturing for him to follow him into the alcove. There were three bathrooms on one side of the alcove and a few sinks on the other. There were no lockers where the two had stopped. In any other circumstance, he would have realized something was wrong, he would have seen that something was off, but Zacharie was far too frazzled to notice. All the sensors in his mind were going haywire.

"So... uh... I've... uh.. r-realized... that I... er... I really... really...  _really_ l-"

All of a sudden, Batter had gotten  _incredibly_ close,  _dangerously close_ , and  _oh dear when did he get that close red alert red alert mayday mayday abort abort_ but it was far too late for that. He was blocking the only way to get out of the alcove. Only then did Zacharie realize that there were no lockers here, no way to escape. Only then did he notice the phone in Batter's hand, only then did he notice the expression on his face. That expression, the expression he had seen so many times before, the expression he never wanted to see again. His breathing quickened, his heart raced, his chest hurt, he was shivering and sweating all at once. He felt sick, sick, sick, utterly  _sick._  

Batter shoved him against the wall, he tried to force him away, he yelled at him to stop, whatever he was doing  _he did not want, did not want, did not want._ All of his struggling was of no use, he screamed as he felt his mask being shoved off of his face, he tried oh so desperately to stop him, to keep it on his face, but to no avail. He heard it clatter to the ground, and he tried, oh how he tried to keep his face covered, but Batter wouldn't stop. He forced his hands away and...

He hesitated.

Batter was nothing short of disgusted. The boy's dark skin was covered in old scars. Dark freckles littered his body. His eyes were an almost impossibly bright green. The worst thing, however, were the _holes._ Large, gaping holes, driven straight through his cheeks. He couldn't describe him as anything _but_ a freak.  _No wonder he wears a mask,_ he thought. All of the wounds looked like they had healed over a varying amount of time, so clearly none of them were all that recent, but that didn't stop him from wondering where they came from. However, he decided it wasn't his business. He still had made a deal, and he was a man of his word.

The now unmasked boy's blubbering returned to screeching as he was dragged over to the toilet and forced in, then flushed. Once this was done, he pulled him out, ending the video recording, and leaning him up against the wall, giving him back his mask.

"Get yourself cleaned up," he ordered, throwing the towel in his direction, "I haven't got all day."

Zacharie didn't answer, wiping off his face and putting his mask back on as fast as possible, grabbing his bag and running out as quickly as he could. He didn't bother trying to catch the sports bus, he didn't want to be around anyone, much less Batter. He walked home instead.

* * *

 

'hey, is this valerie?'

'No, this is Japhet. Am I correct in assuming that you are the Batter?'

'yeah, its me'

'Did you get the video?'

'yeah, its right here'

20161023_1423456787.mp4 sent

'Ah, good work. The perfect angle too.'

'youre welcome'

'Thank you, Batter. Let us hope that he never bothers us again.'

'...'

'yeah'


	15. What Are You Reading?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its september time to get spoopy

It was now October 31st, Halloween, and except for the breaks, everyone's favorite day of the school year. It had been a week since the game, and Zacharie hadn't shown up to school since. Batter was, needless to say, worried.

He choked up the reasoning to be merely curiosity, as he wasn't really sure why he was worried about the merchant, and he was definitely very curious as to... well, everything. The merchant intrigued him, he piqued his interest, from his scars to his mannerisms, the way he talked, the way he walked, how he spoke, how he dressed, and the lacerations that garnished his skin. He wanted to know how he got those scars, why he acts the way he does. And, the more he thought about that afternoon, the more troubling it became.

Batter had bullied other students before, in the exact same way as he had Zacharie. Granted, none of them covered their face with a mask, but that was beside the point. Hell, to some kids he was even worse, but none of them had ever reacted so negatively. Zacharie had been trembling, sweating, even before the event even occurred. The moment he had realized he'd been cornered, he seemed to have been, so eloquently put, losing his shit. As he removed his mask, he watched his eyes go a bit glassy, as if he wasn't really there, as if he were somewhere else. Zacharie had screamed, but it definitely wasn't English. He couldn't quite tell what he was saying, but it was likely something along the lines of, "Batter, stop, please!" Nothing new there. However, he should have been able to at least pick his name out from the jumble of gibberish, but he couldn't. He wasn't even sure if he heard it even once.

The sound of Dedan's yowling broke his thoughts, and he shook Zacharie from his mind, it wasn't important until he showed up. Today was Halloween, and as per tradition, the students and teachers were allowed to wear costumes to school, as long as there were no masks, weapons, provocative clothing, etc. Batter had dressed as the grim reaper, it was his favorite costume actually, though he did have a particular fondness for the dinosaur costume he wore as a toddler. He figured the small plastic bone scythe at his hip didn't really count as a weapon, though the school system always managed to mistake a water gun for a hand grenade. 

As for everyone else, it seemed even the nastiest of teachers managed to get into the Halloween spirit, as Dedan was dressed as a pirate. He even yelled at the beginning of class, "Avast ye, scallywags!" and yelled "Arrrr!!!" occasionally during the period. Valerie was dressed as a witch, gown, hat, and all. His dress had a white, 3/4 sleeved blouse with an orange skirt, a leather corset, and a purple sash at the waist, with a black and green half-cape at the back. The skirt had a black floral pattern with black cats on it at the trim, and the black witch hat had a purple cat printed on it as well. Seemingly dressed to match, The Judge had gone as a black cat, though someone had painted an extra eye in the middle of his forehead, quite expertly as well. A nose and whiskers adorned his face as well. One of the Elsen children was dressed as Superman, though the costume's "muscles" seemed to be a bit much for the kid. It appeared Zacharie was not coming today either. Seeing the twins take their seat, he had to resist the urge to ask them, his pride was far too important to risk it asking about the freak. However, as they turned to him, it seemed as if he wouldn't need to ask anyway.

"So, Batter, I hear you and Zacharie had an... incident, shall we say?" Judge asked, wearing his unsettling, Cheshire grin, that still struck fear in the hearts of men even when he had whiskers painted on his face.

"Er... yeah, something like that," he replied, avoiding eye contact.

"He seems to be of the opinion that you shouldn't be punished for your actions, so just this once I will allow it to slide. But, if you so much as touch a hair on his head, if you make him even slightly uncomfortable, I will not hesitate to put you through hell," Judge threatened, his stare boring into Batter's skull.

However, the threat barely caught his attention, and his voice dropped to a whisper, "So he's doing alright?"

Both brothers looked dumbfounded, that certainly wasn't the answer either of them expected. The looked at each other in silence for a moment, then returned their gaze to him. 

"Well, yes," Judge answered, "Aside from being absolutely distraught for at least three days, and completely avoiding the school for another five, he's doing quite well."

Batter stopped himself from sighing in relief, "Why are you telling me this now? You could have said it the moment you found out, but instead you waited till today. Why?" he asked.

The Judge paused for a moment, "Er... No reason, really... But he does have to return eventually, may as well get the, well, cat out of the bag now, so to speak," he said, chuckling a little at his own joke.

"Alright then," he replied, the conversation ending just as class was beginning to kick off. Deciding Dedan's screaming was more important than talking to the twins was, he turned his focus to that instead.

Most of the teachers were fairly lenient on assignments that day, what with the party later and the trick or treating that followed. With Seneca, that was no such case, though that was always the case, even with his almost adorable fox costume. Reina had gone as a character from Skyrim, Aela the Huntress. Tagging along with her was a person in a werewolf fursuit, most likely Daniel. Most kids thought it was weird, but some, including Ollie, thought it was cute and pet him, his Pikachu hoodie's tail waving behind him. 

The school day went by pretty fast, partially due to how little attention he paid to the classes, and partially due to the anticipation of what the day's remainder held. Before anyone knew it, the day was over and it was only an hour before the party started. Batter sat outside the gym, doing was he usually did before practice, which was scrolling through Tumblr until they let him in.

Fortunately, Batter's phone may as well have been a time machine, as the infinite scrolling of the app seems to turn hours into mere minutes, and it didn't seem like it was very long before the doors opened and the music began. He, along with several other students, walked into the room lit only by blacklights, a discoball, and various rave lights. Even with the dim lighting, he could still see refreshment tables adorned with black and white spiderweb table cloths and chairs lining the walls. The bleachers weren't pulled out for whatever reason, probably cause kids have a history of fucking or doing drugs beneath them (he definitely did  _not_ need to see Ceta and Jane's bare asses freshman year). There was a slightly raised platform on the opposite end of the hall, someone having the poor job of dressing as the mascot, a DJ, some stereos and music equipment, and the principal all standing on it.

Slowly, students began filing in, the first ones being most of the baseball team, as they weren't unaccustomed to waiting outside before the start of an event. Reina and Daniel in their matching cosplays waltzed in first, then Gilles came in dressed in a slutty bunny costume, finding it hilarious and hooting about "getting this party started," while Magnolia, dressed as Morticia Addams, rolled her eyes as she followed behind him. Tiburce was dressed as a firefighter, Vinny as a vampire, and Charlie as Jack Skellington. The entire Elsen family strolled in next, Damien as Batman, Pentel as Superman, Sachihata as Catwoman, and Alma as Captain America. Ms. Elsen herself was dressed as Wonderwoman. A series of kids Batter didn't know or recognize filed in next, and a few minutes behind them was The Judge, Valerie, and some kid dressed as a sheet ghost. The sheet ghost kid seemed to be with them, and was carrying a bag with them, but otherwise there wasn't really anything special. Finally, as more students filed in, the music cut out and the principal stepped up to the microphone.

"Welcome, welcome, OFF Lions, friends, and family, to the Annual Halloween Bash!" Principal Ghost announced. He was dressed as the devil, and his booming voice was coated in a thick, French accent, like syrup on pancakes. "Now, the purpose of this party is to have a good time. That being said, I don't want any funny business going on. We all know what happened two years ago, yes?" Nods and murmurs resonated through the crowd. "Good. I don't plan on repeating that, nor do I want any fights. Just have a good time, and then everything should go swimmingly, got it?" The crowd all nodded again, "Good. And without further adieu, let the party begin!" He shouted, then stepped away from the microphone, handing it to the DJ. "Now, if y'all have any requested, be sure to let me know. As long as they are  _appropriate,_ of course," the DJ said, turning off the mic and queuing up a Halloween soundtrack, starting with "This is Halloween" from  _Nightmare Before Christmas._  

Several girls requested to dance with Batter, as was common during these dances, but he tuned all of them down. He wasn't interested in any of them, and he wasn't even persuing a relationship at the time either. Hell, he barely knew any of them, and he  _certainly_ wasn't going to dance in front of everyone. Instead he mostly stayed near the refreshment tables and surveyed the room. Reina and Daniel were "dancing" with the rest of the baseball team, Gilles hooting with laughter as per usual and Magnolia rolling her eyes as per usual. The Elsen family were also attempting to dance in a corner of the room, but after about five minutes each of them had to sit down. The Judge and Valerie were laughing and swaying their hips but they weren't really dancing. Sheet Ghost Kid was still with them as well, and though he wasn't quite close enough to hear he swore he'd recognized that laughter.

Eventually the party died down a little, most people's feet were tired at this point and needed a bit of a break. Batter watched as the twins and Sheet Ghost Kid walked over to the refreshments tables, all of them taking cookies and the like. Tracking them down wasn't hard, the black light illuminated the twin's pale hair and skin, as well as Sheet Ghost Kid's sheet. Most kids who used a sheet would take it off to eat, but Sheet Ghost Kid seemed to prefer sneaking the cookies under their sheet and eating it there instead. Honestly he shouldn't have cared, but for whatever reason this kid piqued his interest. Not too long after, Sheet Ghost Kid waved to The Judge and Valerie, sitting down in one of the chairs and pulling a book out of his bag. He couldn't quite make out the title from here. He decided to quell his curiosity and sit next to the kid, figure out who they were. 

Zacharie pulled out a book as he sat down, having no trouble reading in the poor lighting. It was a fairly thick book, one he had read many times and never seemed to get tired of. He was just about to get to an interesting part when someone made the brilliant choice to sit next to him.

Batter looked over the page, reading the first sentence, "Twigleg would have loved to nip her furry fingers, but he controlled himself and didn't so much as poke the tip of his nose out of his hiding place." He didn't understand the context, but the sentence sounded quite odd. Before asking Sheet Ghost Kid anything, he decided to continue reading.

Zacharie knew that they were peering over his shoulder, and it was slowly becoming more and more irritating. However, he did his best to ignore them, and the breathing on his neck. He wasn't looking for conflict, especially not after what happened last week.

He read more, leaning over Sheet Ghost Kid's shoulder heavily, more invested in the book than the kid themself at this point. He usually wasn't one to get sucked into stories so easily, but there were times where even the least scholarly man finds himself enraptured within a book's pages. 

Zacharie hissed, his irritation being pushed to the limit, he hated people breathing down his neck. He turned to the person, snarling, "Just what the hell do yo-"

_Oh._

_Oh no._

Upon seeing the Batter's face, Zacharie scrambled backwards away from him.  _Oh no oh no oh no he's back he's back for more just what is he planning to-_

"What are you reading?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The book he's reading is Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. It's one of my favorite books, and I thought if a character was gonna read something the book deserved some kind of recognition. The line mentioned in this chapter is not my word, it is theirs.


	16. The Slightest Hint of Remorse

Zacharie had to stop himself from outright screaming.  He had hoped to avoid the Batter at all costs,  he had only come to the dance at all for free food and because Pablo asked him to. If he were entirely honest,  he had hoped to avoid him forever, despite how unrealistic that would be. But, alas, clearly he had gotten his hopes up. Seeing Batter’s lack of movement and the slight confusion on his face, Zacharie finally realized he wasn't here to hurt him. Or he was masking it. Judging from himself, who could tell. 

“I-it’s D-Dragon Rider, by Cornelia Funke,” he stammered, trying desperately to regain his composure as he showed the book’s cover.

Batter nodded, leaning back in his chair. “I’m really sorry about last Friday.”

Zacharie slowly eased back into his seat, barely detecting the remorse in his monotone voice, but it was definitely there.

After a few minutes of silence, Batter spoke up again. “It must have affected you pretty bad. You’ve been gone all week.”

Zacharie once again didn’t respond, barely giving a slight nod. After several long, dragging minutes of silence, he finally found his voice.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s a party,” Batter replied.

“I meant here. Talking to me.”

“At first I was just curious as to who you were, but once I figured it out I thought I should apologize. I was kind of a dick.”

Zacharie sighed, “Bravo, you have an inkling of empathy. Good for you.”

Hardly a single flicker of emotion in Batter’s face. Did he have any emotions at all? Zacharie let out another small sigh, the party around them seeming to slow to a stop and the music was drowned out by his thoughts. He wanted him to leave, he wanted to disappear from existence. Not like that’s anything new. He felt like he was in a cemetery, himself being the only thing alive as the colour drained from his finger tips, and that Batter was the casket lowering into the grave in his own name, watching his own, empty funeral.

“You were trying to say something.” Batter’s dry voice cut into the fantasy.

“ _Quoi?_ Er-what?” Zacharie asked, confused.

“That night, you were trying to ask me something.”

Zacharie huffed, louder than before, “It doesn’t matter. It's gone now. You lost that chance when you forced blackmail material from me and tried to drown me in the shitter.” His tone was just as dry and dead as the Batter’s.

“Look, Zacharie, I’m sorry, I regret every second of it, but-”

“Regret it almost as much as you regret meeting me? Almost as much as you regret me coming to this school? This state? This country?” his voice was deathly quiet, “Then why the hell did you do it?”

Batter fell silent, not wanting to say, and realizing just how much of an ass he had been. Sure, the little runt was a greedy bastard, but he didn’t deserve what had happened to him. What he had done to him.

Zacharie started to get up, “If you can’t think of a valid reason,  then we have nothing further to discuss.”

“Wait,” Batter hissed, grabbing his wrist.

Zacharie turned, the anxiety from before rising up again, but his grip was gentle rather than the suffocating force he had felt so many times before. 

“Please, let me make it up to you. Tiburce has a car, and we’re going to another neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Reina and Daniel are coming too. You can even bring Judge and Valerie along.”

The party’s slow crawl began flowing naturally

again,  the colour drizzling back into the scene. 

“What?” Zacharie questioned,  pulling his hand away. 

His voice still monotone,  his face still a blank slate, “I really am sorry, Zacharie. It may not seem like it, but I am. We even have extra bags if you need one.”

Zacharie shook his head slightly, sighing again, but this time a more tired sigh than an irritated one. “Fine. I'll ask Pablo and Val their thoughts, but I make no promises.”

Batter nodded, awaiting his return. He couldn't hear over the music, and they were probably speaking in French anyway, but he could see the glances they were making in his direction.  Confused, annoyed, angry,  worried; the rapid flashes of emotion almost too quick to make out. Judge even started yelling at one point, desperately trying to get his point across, but he seemed to give up halfway through. After another minute or so, the trio walked back over. 

“Fine, we'll play your little game. But mark my words, if you lay so much as a finger on Zacharie, you'll never see the light of day again, dear Batter,” Judge snarled, his terrifying cheshire grin more prominent than ever before. 


	17. A Breach of Confidentiality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your help both with motivation and ideas! the next chaprter will hopefully come out very soon!

_Grown teenagers, going from house to house to house, toting pillowcases full of candy around for hours trying to fill them even more with free food. Honestly, we should be ashamed of ourselves, but... It's oddly comforting,_ Zacharie thought to himself as they began driving to the next neighbourhood.

They had traveled in a large pickup truck, so there was seemingly plenty of space for all of them. About half the baseball team was there, plus Zacharie, Pablo, Valerie, and Daniel. The candy bags they had with them practically made a few other people as well, so it wasn't the most spacious thing in the world, but it served its purpose well.

They were currently heading to the next set of houses, Zacharie sitting on one side with Pablo, Valerie, Reina, and Daniel, while Magnolia, Gilles, Ollie, Vinny, and Charlie were on the other. Tiburce was driving and Batter had called shotgun before they left the party. Magnolia was glaring at him from across the truck, sizing him up. Ollie, her brother, didn't seem bothered at all by Zacharie, but aside from him and Reina, almost the entire team disliked him, for whatever reason. Though, that said, he knew the reason. He had been charging them all money, and for small things that would have been provided for free otherwise. It wasn't his fault, not exactly, he needed the money and he'd gotten permission to sell at the school. Though, maybe he  _was_ bending the rules a bit. He sighed, wondering if that was the only reason. He had been friendly enough with all of them, he thought, but apparently either that wasn't enough for them, or they had mistaken his genuine cheer for attempting to solicit more money from them. Well, it wasn't exactly genuine. It was rare for it ever to be as such. But, still, no harm was meant to be put behind those words.  
  
Meanwhile, Tiburce had decided to strike up a quiet conversation with Micheal. "..why'd you even bring that kid and his friends? You know first hand how much of an ass he is, Batter, so.. why?" Tiburce tended to act as the "mom friend" for the group, though sometimes Magnolia took that role as well. So he was willing to try to understand his motives, even if he still believed the masked teen was a freak of nature.

Batter was quiet for a moment, trying to think of an adequate reply. "...I saw his face," he finally said.

Tiburce turned and stared at him, "Holy shit, really?! What does he look like?!" He then turned his attention back to the road just in time to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting a small black cat. The cat scrambled out of the way, and Magnolia shouted, "Dude, what the fuck?!" eliciting a quick string of apologies from Tiburce as he kept the truck stationary for now.

Zacharie peered over the side of the truck, seeing the cat. "..Charlotte?" he asked, seeming the recognize the feline. Upon hearing his voice, the feline hesitantly padded over to the truck, meowing indignantly. He laughed a little and reached out to pet her, and she rubbed up against his hand, a slight purr starting to form. 

The Judge looked confused, "Are you familiar with this feline?"

Zacharie nodded, "She's my cat. Well, with how many times she manages to escape and wander around you would think she owns herself, but she lives with me." The twins shared a look of confusion, apparently this was news to them.

Gilles groaned, "No wonder my allergies have been acting up. You're probably covered in cat hair."

Zacharie chuckled a bit, "Guilty as charged, mon ami. Though, I'm not the only culprit."

The Judge nodded sagely, "We do have an awful lot of cats."

Valerie, however, was more focused on Charlotte herself, "..she's rather thin.."

Zacharie froze for a moment, then kept petting the cat, "Yeah.. She doesn't eat as much as she should. I haven't figured out a way to get her to eat more." While that wasn't entirely true, he wasn't too keen on explaining exactly why she wasn't eating.

Valerie had a feeling he was skipping out on a couple details, but he decided not to question it further.

Meanwhile, Tiburce started the care again, and drove at a steady pace, continuing his conversation with Batter.

"You said you saw the runt's face? What did it look like?"

"It was real messed up, it's no wonder he wears a mask."

"Shit dude, how'd he get 'em?"

"I don't know, I couldn't pick that part out from him blathering on in french."

"Well, what did it look like then? Was it a Heath Ledger Joker situation? Or more of a burn victim? Or is he just plain ugly?"

Just as Batter was about to answer, Zacharie himself stood up, knocking the back of the passenger part of the truck, "Ah-ah-ah, you would do quite well not to reveal a man's secrets. A breach of confidentiality, if you will, Mr. Batler." He didn't sound pleased at all.

"Right..."


	18. This Side Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its 1:32 am i m dy i n g

"Oh my god, is he asleep?!"

"Looks like it."

"Oh man, we could prank him so hard. Let's draw a dick on his face, I've got sharpies!"

"Tiburce, that requires you to actually be able to see his face."

Tiburce huffed, "Well that shouldn't be a problem, now that he's asleep and there's no one here to stop us. Besides, I think we all want to know what's under that stupid mask of his."

This was true, everyone other than Tiburce, Batter, Magnolia, and Oliver had left already. Mostly because they were the closest to Tiburce's own house, and this meant they were the last stops. It was harder to convince the twins to leave Zacharie with all of them, but they managed to do it anyway.

"C'mon Batter, one look can't hurt," Maggie said boredly, running her hands through her hair. 

"Okay, fine. Just for a few seconds. But no telling anyone, no pictures, and  _no_ sharpies."

"Why do you care so much? I thought you hated this guy," Maggie replied.

"You'll know when you see it," Batter said, sitting next to Zacharie and carefully lifting the sheet. As expected, a gasp came out of everyone's mouth.

"Now do you get it?" Batter asked, covering him back up.

"Definitely," Tiburce replied, pulling out of Reina's driveway and heading towards Micheal's house.

"When we get there, just drop me and Zacharie off at the bus stop. Our houses are both close enough," Micheal suggested.

"Whaat, why? I can just drop you off at your house, and drive him to his, you know," Tiburce retorted.

"I know, but Magnolia and Oliver--and you, all need to get home soon. It's more convenient for all of you."

"I do like convenience... Alright, you got me. Go ahead and do whatever then, soon you will be free from mother's grasp," Tiburce joked. Batter just rolled his eyes.

Once they got to the bus stop, Batter carefully lifted Zacharie into his arms, managed to wave goodbye to Tiburce while holding him and two bags of candy, then make an attempt to wake him up. After a few more attempts, the boy quickly bolted out of the other's arms, before sighing and brushing himself off.

"What, are you going to beat me up now that it's just the two of us? You've pretty much got two weapons right there from all the candy in there," Zacharie hissed. Clearly he still didn't trust him.

Micheal rolled his eyes again and handed him his bag of candy. Zacharie seemed surprised by this, to which Batter responded, "Look, I'm not gonna eat this all by myself. Take it." Zacharie nodded and took the bag, somehow looking very pleased with this new development without even being to see his face.

"Merc-" he started, before Batter cut him off, "Don't mention it."

Zacharie nodded, and after a bit of hesitation, said goodbye and started walking home. Batter sighed, starting to do the same to his own house, but then he hesitated. He really was curious about Zacharie's house, so after a few minutes he started following him. He made sure to stay far enough behind that he wouldn't notice, but close enough he could listen to what he was saying to an extent. At one point, the same black cat from earlier came out from an alleyway and started meowing at Zacharie.

"Charlotte, how many times do I have to tell you? You've gotta stay in the box! You could have died earlier!" Zacharie scolded, leaning down to pet and then pick up the cat.

Batter was definitely confused, why did she have to stay in a box? Well, for now he shrugged it off, and continued following him home. Soon, they reached a pair of houses with an alley in between. Micheal thought he must live in one of these... Except he kept walking. The alley was a dead end, with nothing but a few trash cans and a large cardboard box. To his shock, Zacharie crawled into the box, as if... He lived in it.

 _That's why he's always asking for money..._ ~~~~Micheal thought to himself, before turning tail and running before he could be seen.


End file.
